Release that Man

“Shuang Shuang, finish him!”

“Brother Fang, don’t be afraid!”

The group of local friends clapped and cheered Ye Shuang on, and the capital group took pleasure in someone’s misfortune.

Surrounded by cheers from both sides, Ye Shuang snuck a glance at her opponent, Mr. Fang, who was raring to go, and she sighed helplessly. Will I be able to get home for the transformation tonight?

“Ruan Ruan.” Ye Shuang massaged the space between her brows to soften the gathering pressure. “I really have something important to get to…”

“Finish him, Shuang Shuang!” Ruan Yuan waved her tiny fists before Mr. Fang as taunt. Her desperation to win both was both cute and annoying in Mr. Fang’s eyes. “Make him lose even his underwear… Right, Shuang Shuang, did you say anything?”

“…No, nothing.” Facing the glistening pair of eyes that looked expectantly at her, Ye Shuang decided to shift her target instead. “If I can make Mr. Fang lose his underwear, can I go home‽”

“Yes!” Ruan Yuan pumped her fists.

The crowd fell quiet. Wait, something doesn’t sound right‽

Ye Shuang sighed. “Alright then, give me a minute.”

The secret of the transformation had to be kept, so the only way out for Ye Shuang was to finish the battle as soon as possible.

Unlocking super analytic power, calculating the dice cup’s mass and space, the frictional force between the materials… the dice’s mass, gravity, structural analysis… the power of the wrist, angle of handling the dice up…

The people inside the KTV private room looked on with curiosity as Ye Shuang picked up the dice and dice cup from the table, dropped the dice into the dice cup, and gave it a slight shake before putting it all back down. This action was repeated again and again. The placement of the dice and the shaking of the dice cup seemed to differ slightly every time, but the difference was not so obvious that it was discernible by an outsider’s eye.

“What is she doing‽”

After Ye Shuang repeated this for a few more times, a socialite finally could not help but ask the question that was on everyone’s mind. It was a gentleman from the capital who noticed the weird expression on Mr. Fang and Ruan Yuan’s faces. He leaned closer to take a closer and gasped with shock. “She’s practicing…”

Practicing‽ The group of girls looked at each other with bafflement on their faces.

The gentleman from capital hesitated for a moment before sitting back down to ask, “Where did you all find this girl‽ When you gals said that she is some kind of gambler god, I thought you were kidding, but now I’m having second thoughts…”

The group of local socialites were shocked. We were definitely kidding!

Yes, they had been impressed by the fact that Ye Shuang had managed to win four consecutive rounds of Mah-jongg, but this talk of gambler god was just an inside joke. However, based on what the guy had to say, there seemed to be more than a grain of truth to it…

The gentleman continued in a voice filled with disbelief. “When I leaned forward, she rolled three sixes; the second round, she rolled four sixes; the third round, she managed to stack all the dice on top of each other; the fourth round, every single dice of the stack had 6 facing up. It’s unbelievable… she’s truly a gambler god, that’s for sure! She asked us to wait because she needed some time to get the feeling back.”

The group of local socialites were first baffled by what they heard. When they recovered, they ignored the young man from capital who was waiting for a response and all rushed forward to observe up close.

As the young man had described, the ease with which Ye Shuang handled the dice became discernibly better. Her originally awkward movement was now as smooth as water. The numbers that she shook out were almost uniform with occasional stacked dice intertwined in between.

Mr. Fang’s expression turned from derision to surprise to fear before ending with resignation. When Ye Shuang finally found the feeling that she was looking for, and after making sure there would be no mistakes, she raised her head and said, “We can start now.”

Mr. Fang was completely speechless. He tossed the dice cup in his hand weakly onto the table and turned to face the television screen to pick the song that he wanted to sing. Start your head!

Isn’t this just a friendly match? Why did bring someone that is no different from a cheater? What’s the point‽

…

Mr. Fang’s surrender without even a match caused the group of socialites to surround Ye Shuang with their eyes glowing. Even the two guys from capital had given up consoling their brokenhearted friend, so they followed the group of girls to pray at the altar of the gambling world’s newest rising star.

“This is actually not that difficult.” Ye Shuang was surrounded on all sides. She glanced at the time and felt tears welling up in her eyes—it was 11pm. She could only try her best to deal with these people and hope to slip away as soon as possible. “The key is the dice’s center of gravity and gravitational direction. The dice inside the cup are only affected by their own gravitational force and the collision force between each other.

“To put it simply, it’s their centripetal force. Combine that with the influence of friction and force… But for a competition of big or small points, there is a trick you can use… Keep your wrist taut and only use force in your lower arm. Make sure the angle of the open end of the cup and the table surface is about seven degrees, and you’ll be able to easily stack the dice…”

With Ye Shuang’s kind guidance, the two guys from the capital who were willing to learn soon mastered this simple technique. After Ye Shuang fixed the angle of their wrists, several practice rounds later, they really did manage to stack the dice.

“Wow, it really works!” The guys were elated. They had managed to master this trick that they had only seen on the television. The sense of accomplishment was no lesser than the feeling of superiority they felt when they boasted about their wealth. Feeling like the god of gambling incarnate, they could not wait to put their new skill to the test. “Fang Han, get over here. How about a few rounds? The one with most points will have to drink!”

Mr. Fang did not know what to say. Are you two even my friends‽

Ruan Yuan was satisfied. Even though the girls had less of an affinity in the game of dice and they could not pick up Ye Shuang’s teaching as fast as the two guys, the fact that they had managed to win the enemies over to their camp was a satisfying feeling indeed.

“Well, well, well.” Ruan Yuan was bursting with pride like she was the one who had won the actual battle. She puffed her chest out and claimed, “Our Shuang Shuang is the best, right?”

“Definitely!” The two young men from the capital, who had deserted their cause, flashed two thumbs up. “Sister Shuang is the best!”

Thus, Ye Shuang bridged the relationship between the local group and the capital group. The only one being left out was Mr. Fang, who sat in the corner facing the wall. Ye Shuang wiped the cold sweat from her face before she glancing at the time. F*ck, it’s already 23:40 pm!

“I really have to leave! It’ll be too late if I don’t leave now!” Ye Shuang practically leaped out of her seat. She grabbed her coat and rushed toward the door.

“So soon‽” The crowd obviously wanted her to stay. “Why not stay a little while longer, maybe teach us some more tricks? We’ll drive you home after this!”

Ye Shuang did not dare risk exposing her dark secret. It was near midnight, and there wouldn’t be much traffic, so it would only be a ten-minute drive home, but what if she was unable to find a taxi? Got halted at a police roadblock? Mugged at midnight… Alright, fine, the possibility of that last one was small.

In any case, one should never say never. The thought of suddenly transforming in the backseat of a taxi caused Ye Shuang to shudder.

“It’s really late, and I need to report to work tomorrow. I also have a meeting with Brother Fang tomorrow morning.” Noting the lonely shadow hiding by the corner of the wall, Ye Shuang added for his benefit, “I mean, I have something to discuss with Fang Mo.”

“Fang Mo‽” When she heard the name, Ruan Yuan instantly pulled out her phone. “Then there’s no need to hurry. Fei Fei and her brother are also at this KTV, but they’re with a client, so I didn’t call them to join us… But considering the time, wait here a moment, I’ll call them now.”

My God! Can I be any luckier‽ Ye Shuang was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Before she could come up with an excuse, Ruan Yuan had already made the call.

Other than grabbing the phone, which was impossible, Ye Shuang could only stand there quietly as Ruan Yuan negotiated on the phone. The client had probably left, and since Ruan Yuan was his sister’s friend, Fang Mo accepted the invitation readily.

After ending the call, Ruan Yuan told Ye Shuang happily, “Wait a minute, they’re seeing the client off; they’ll be here in a minute.”

…Thank you so very much!

Ye Shuang was petrified. With sweat coming out of her every pore, she picked out her phone to glance at the time—11:50 pm.

“What’s wrong, Ye Shuang?” Someone finally noticed how off Ye Shuang was acting. She asked with concern when she saw the grimace on Ye Shuang’s face, “Not feeling well‽”

“Hmm‽ Yes, I am feeling a little under the weather, perhaps I should just go…”

“If you’re not feeling well, quickly sit down!” The girl patted Ye Shuang on her shoulders concernedly. “I’ll have the waitress send in a glass of hot drink. Later, we’ll drive you home; you’re in no condition to return on your own.”

“…” Ye Shuang did not even know what to feel then. She smiled through her tears. “That’s so kind of you… but I need to use the bathroom.”

She could not come up with a valid reason to leave. Fang Mo, who she had hoped to use as an excuse, was being summoned, and if she didn’t leave soon, she would transform before everyone’s eyes. Ye Shuang thought about it, and there was only one final means of escape left—to escape via the bathroom!

At worst, she would apologize to them after the fact.

Finally, no one stopped her. While the rest continued to play, Ye Shuang dashed out of the room. When she reached the end of the corridor, she saw the Fang siblings walking over from the other direction.

She hid behind a conveniently-placed cleaning trolley. When the sound of footsteps faded away, Ye Shuang was about to grow wings and fly away when the familiar sense of pain surged through her body.

Through her bones, muscles, and nerves…

The transformation had started; she was too late. The closest relatively safe space was the bathroom…